The Arctic is heating at twice the pace of other parts of the world, and scientists predict that in the next 20 years the waterways of the region will be completely ice-free.
This has led to new tensions about Russian militarization in the Arctic and a hungry China competing for its resources. There have also been increased competitions for maritime lanes. The Northwest Passage is also being contested, as it runs north through Arctic ice.
Why This
Was Written
With the melting Arctic creating new opportunities as well as stirring up old rivalries, Canada and the U.S. are trying to work together in tapping into the trade routes and thawing resource. Part 1 of 2.
The United States wants to strengthen its relationship with Arctic allies and expand its knowledge of what is happening there. A trip by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy along the Northwest Passage will help achieve this goal. The passengers include British, Canadian, and Danish military personnel who are participating in joint exercises. A plethora international scientists also participate in research that will help understand the impacts of climate change.
” We’re demonstrating that the U.S. can expand its reach in the Arctic,” Adm. Karl L. Schultz (commandant, U.S. Coast Guard) said. It’s expanding our knowledge of the region. It projects our interests. It is a signal to other countries that similar-minded partners collaborate and work in this crucial space .”
Resolute Bay, Nunavut
Steering the ship from her perch 93 feet above the Arctic waterline, U.S. Coast Guard Ensign Valerie Hines guides the vessel through ice cover laid out like a vast white puzzle starting to tear apart.
She nudges the 420-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy forward – ramming, then backing up and ramming again, the ice that is several feet thick. As cleaved pieces scrape against the hull, the noise can be deafening. The constant vibrations caused by the separation sheet below deck can be as strong as an earthquake.
But the task of bulldozing can also have its beauty moments: The ice pieces that are separating from the bow shine with an iridescent light, almost as though they were lit from beneath the water.
Why This
Was Written
With the melting Arctic creating new opportunities as well as stirring up old rivalries, Canada and the U.S. are trying to work together in tapping into the trade routes and thawing resource. Part 1 of 2.
The ship is on a unique transit through the Northwest Passage, which is helping to establish the U.S. Project influence in one of the most important geostrategic and rapidly changing places on Earth. With the melting polar ice caps and warming Arctic, the roof of the earth is now more accessible than ever before. This is creating new opportunities for commercial lanes, as well as the need to improve search and rescue skills, enhance environmental protection and cooperate with the local population at high latitudes. This has also sparked a worldwide race for resources and routes in this remote but vital region.
Chief Petty Officer Matt Masaschi/U.S. Coast Guard
Ensign Valerie Hines pilots the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy through the ice during its Northwest Passage transit, Sept. 2, 2021. “One thing I have learned about icebreaking is how patience it takes,” Ensign Hines says.
” They are crazy pieces of ice,” said Ensign Hines. Ensign Hines said that they would flip on their sides, and roll along the hull. It’s definitely a multisensory experience.”
But, first, Ensign Hines has to actually get the Healy through the entombed tundra. This is the third trip of the ship across the Northwest Passage. Piloting the Bull-nosed Boat through an icefield requires patience and problem solving. Sometimes, you have to weave and turn sharply in the multi-year ice fields. Sometimes, it is best to just keep going.
” One of the most important lessons I have learned about icebreaking is how patience it takes,” states Ensign Hines.
No ice to stand on
That knowledge is one of the main points of this voyage through the Northwest Passage, which was first traversed by a Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, in 1906. Since Mr. Amundsen’s first voyage, only 318 vessels, as of 2020, have successfully crossed it.
More than two-thirds of those crossings have happened in the past 15 years, amid changes the Healy has witnessed. When the ship took its maiden voyage through the Northwest Passage in 2000, the Arctic had about a quarter more ice cover. The trend lines have been clear over the years. It’s declining by 13% per decade. This decline is part and parcel of all conversations that take place in this area of Canada. Here in Resolute Bay, one of the most northerly communities in the world, where Inuit were forcefully relocated by the Canadian government beginning in 1953 to exert sovereignty in the High Arctic, unstable ice has upended everything from hunting patterns and the availability of food to hockey tournaments normally reached by snowmobile over frozen ice. The changes at sea are not felt only by scientists and ice pilots. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Master Chief Petty officer Mark Hulen was the Healy’s first voyager. He has made several Arctic trips since then. The crew’s latest expedition is their first attempt to “ice liberty”. They will watch for polar bears, then let them climb on top of an iceberg and allow the crew to stretch their legs. Usually it’s a mile. Some people will start a spontaneous football match. He says, “We struggled to find a piece of good-quality ice on which we could stand.”
Petty Officer 3rd Class Janessa Warschkow/U.S. Coast Guard
Healy crew launch an unmanned underwater vehicle under the sea ice in the Chukchi Sea, Aug. 5, 2021.
The Arctic is heating at twice the pace of other parts of the world, with some scientists predicting that the Arctic waterways will be completely ice-free by 2025. This has led to tensions between Russia’s militarization and China’s hunger for Arctic resources. There have also been increased sealane competitions.
Even this passageway remains contested. The Northwest Passage is considered by Canada an internal waterway while the United States considers it an international channel. The dispute remains, managed under a 1988 accord that requires the U.S. to seek prior consent from Canada before passage, but tensions flared under the Trump administration. The Americans floated what’s called a “freedom of navigation operation” and called Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage “illegitimate.”
The Healy passage, which sought prior consent and contains a strong science focus, is about shoring up the U.S. partnership with its Arctic allies, as well as expanding its understanding of what’s happening in the region. The passengers include Canadian, Danish, and British military personnel who are participating in joint exercises. A multitude of international scientists also participate in research that is crucial for understanding climate change’s implications. The vessel is expected to arrive in Boston Oct. 14, its first U.S. port since leaving Alaska in August. We’re demonstrating that the U.S. can expand its reach in the Arctic,” Adm. Karl L. Schultz (commandant, U.S. Coast Guard) said. It’s improving our knowledge of the region. It projects our interests. It is a signal to other countries that similar-minded partners collaborate and work in this crucial space .”
Sara Miller Llana/The Christian Science Monitor
Adm. Karl L. Schultz is the commandant of U.S. Coast Guard and is currently in Resolute Bay (Nunavut) to observe the Healy’s rare transit.
Both the U.S. coast guard and Canada have been working to increase their Arctic capability in recent years. Only two US Coast Guard icebreakers are available. One is an older, more expensively upgraded heavy breaker and one is the medium Healy. The Polar Security Cutter program envisions the creation of three heavy polar icebreakers. Two are currently fully funded. The contract for the first one is still in place.
Admiral Schultz said that he is often asked the question, “Why then do we need more icebreakers?” He says that “I believe right now because presence equals influence” and that there is very little of it. However, he adds that the Arctic warming will make it more volatile because the ice becomes rougher and behaves differently.
This will also mean a warmer Arctic which means more recreational boaters and cruise ships, as well as more adventurists that the Canadian Coast Guard has to rescue.
Canada’s Coast Guard is an independent organization that provides environmental protection and search and rescue services. It was established in Yellowknife (Northwest Territories) three years ago. The Coast Guard is working with other allies but its main purpose is to help and collaborate with Inuits living at the forefront of climate change. Neil O’Rourke is the Assistant Commissioner, Arctic Region at Canadian Coast Guard.
” It’s going to overwhelm us over and above “
All of this may seem far from reality for most Canadian and American citizens.
Despite the Arctic comprising more than 40% of Canadian landmass, two-thirds of Canadians live within 100 kilometers of the U.S. border. It is smaller than the U.S. Arctic and further away from Americans.
Larry Mayer is the founding director of Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire. Healy’s lead scientist. An oceanographer from the Bronx who was inspired by the book “Boy Beneath the Sea,” today he is essentially a modern-day charter, mapping the seafloor for a project called Seabed 2030.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Connor Dahl/U.S. Coast Guard
Senior Chief Petty Officer Donald Selby participates in a dive beneath the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy in the Chukchi Sea, between Russia and Alaska, Aug. 5, 2021.
Only about 14% of the Arctic has been mapped – and he has just completed a corridor of the Northwest Passage. Although it is important to know the contours and depths of the ocean floor for safety purposes, the implications of everything that has been done in this area are far more than what can be seen from the shore. The nature of winds patterns and heat transfer are affected by open waters. This effect is felt far beyond the Arctic circle.
” The Arctic has a significant impact on North America’s storminess and many of the unusual weather patterns we have seen are a result. “It’s just such a complex system of interconnectivity.”
As he wraps up a talk on his work aboard Healy, and the U.S. and Canadian coast guards await a helicopter transfer back to Resolute Bay, the discussion quickly turns to the fatal flooding of basement apartments in New York City in the wake of Hurricane Ida and the rest of the weather events grabbing global headlines.
“Something’s different,” Dr. Mayer said. “And if we don’t own up to it, it’s going to clobber us over and over.”
Admiral Schultz calls himself “agnostic” on the climate debate. He wants Americans to see that what is happening up there isn’t an “esoteric and long-way from home kind of topic.” There is more water and water where there wasn’t before. The practical reality is, there is a crescendo of knowledge that things are changing.”
Next: In Murmansk, icebreakers are also the center of attention as the Kremlin looks to turn the Northeast Passage into a major shipping route and the Russian port city into an economic powerhouse.
